usda as they are but they need us. and we can help turn that around but we can get the funding to do it. >> they do indeed need you. thank you for recognizing that. my second question, i am inspired by testimony today and your decision to become a first generation farmer. i only imagine natalie starting farm completely from scratch by going to the process to make sure you are producing organic crops. my conversations with farmers back home i know that going through the organic certification process is something that scares a lot of farmers off and they don't know where to start even if they are already operating under usda organic practices. can you describe for us the reasons you chose to produce organically? and if you have an opportunity to help more black farms through the usda organic certification. >> i will ask if you be kind enough to reply in writing we are way past the time. i deeply appreciate your consideration. we want to get every member in this important hearing. now i recognize the gentle man from iowa

the usda is of the last resort when the private sector fall short so usda has fallen short to it has been the driving force. [inaudible] [inaudible] and for the heart poor health comes in brain drain among other things now the usda did admit it has a history of discrimination against black farmers that admission and settlement does not bring about any systemic changes and many individuals who perpetrated the racism and to my knowledge, i, a black woman only fired by the usda for discrimination a claim that was later disproven. and then exposing the real usda unfortunately because the government was sewing causa trent over 9 percent of the farmers that prevailed in a lawsuit were not made whole. where do we go from here? we need to restore section 25 oh one. nearly three decades ago. as a member of the federation with all the work and documentation that led to the passing as a permanent part of the farm bill the original intent was to provide farmers of color especially black farmers without technical assistance and the second one eliminates that is out of reach for most black farmers

the naacp -- head of the usda.aacp has noted vilsack had lied to conceal decades of discrimination against black farmers, and naacp president derrick johnson called the prospect of vilsack "extremely problematic for the african-american community." he cited the 2010 controversy when vilsack fired shirley sherrod from her usda position overseeing rural development amid a misunderstanding over racial comments. vilsack later apologized. johnson told "the washington post" -- "we think that an individual who unjustifiably fired shirley sherrod -- who is a civil rights icon, a legend, who worked with john lewis -- should not be considered. we should not go backward. we should go forward." well, in fact, tom vilsack is once again the head of the usda. john boyd, have you spoken to him and what are you demanding? >> two things. yes, i have spoken to him. one of the things that president biden also committed to me during our one-on-one visit in south carolina, there would be change in leadership the usda. so whethey announc

i budget that usda is only $150 billion. we spend more on diabetes control and treatment than we do on the entire department of agriculture that affects every person who lives, works and raises their family and rural america. so we have a challenge. can we improve. choices and opportunities our youngsters have in a variety of settings. can we help those families who are struggling and receiving snap to be able to have the resources to ensure that they get decent food, nutritious food. can we create an informed consumer so as they are making choices for themselves and their families, they are making healthy and solid choices. we have to make sure the benefits are used. we have to provide good information that people can rely on in making decisions for their families as we deal with this issue of nutrition insecurity. i'm looking forward to the challenges of building back better. i know i've done this pretty quickly, but i was told i had about 10 minutes. let me stop and see if there are questions i can try to answer. >> that

the usda focuses on just that. we want to defeat covid. you might find it interesting the department of agriculture has over 500 people focused on increasing vaccination opportunities for people across the united states. more shots in the arm mean we have a greater shot getting beyond covid in a relatively quick timeframe. the president has been insistent on us looking for places where we can expand vaccination sites and making sure there is an adequate amount of vaccine. that's part of our process. we have also focused on endemic assistance. you mentioned nutrition assistance. we had nutrition and food insecurity prior to the pandemic and have been exacerbated by the pandemic. so we have been focused on expanding access and health to struggling families. we increased the staff benefits that will put for a family for about $100 a month more in their pockets to get them through this difficult time. that not only helps families receiving benefits but helps support jobs for the economy. the snap increase alone will support over 47,000 jobs. i

congress and usda should have extensive employment network has expert communities across usda engage in this and help coordinate efforts and information for education and outreach efforts and lower the producers and usda employees, they are upended about these. in closing, i'd like to reiterate agriculture is facing numerous challenges on climate change. we have a path forward. will we take it? remember, the secret is in the soil. thank you for the opportunity to testify. >> thank you so much. let me start with the question that you indicated when you said most important piece of climate education today with our 2018 will, we work very hard in a bipartisan way, as you know to put in very important climate smart policies around conservation. my question is, we are thinking about another farm bill, is a couple of years away but i want to make sure we are building on that and mr. as well talked about not taking from existing programs, i couldn't agree more. this has got to be adding and make sure we are adding to the resources farmers could you speak about how we can use conservations,

vilsack: in terms of usda and arguably -- it involves two aspects of our operation. the reality is your tomorrow is not going to be any better than your today. there may be an incentive for you to try to escape a today that's not particularly helpful, especially if you feel there's no hope tomorrow is going to be better. part of what we have to do is improve the economy and that starts with the transformation of u.s. agriculture, as i mentioned earlier. it's about jobs that can be created. it's also making sure people have access to the services they need when and if they fall prey to addiction. it is a disease, not a character flaw. people can tough it out. they need help and they need services. that means they need facilities, people, professionals, and to the extent they are not available, they need to be linked to them in some way. that means investing not just in facilities but tele-facilities, making sure we have adequate broadband and internet connectivity to connect people to the health -- to the help they need. finally, there needs to be a conversation and d

that is something we at usda are going to be looking at, but can create new competition, particularly in the processing area. we think there are opportunities for the american rescue plan and some of the other tools usda has to create processing facilities to make our food distribution more resilient and provide more competition and more open and transparent markets. finally, an opportunity for us to take full advantage of the climate opportunity -- not the climate challenge. there's a tendency to look at climate as something silly to be avoided, something we are concerned about and going to cause significant problems in the world. i want to look at it from the opportunity side. for agriculture, it creates a host of revenue streams that could be created and help farmers become more profitable. and farmers sequestering carbon, sequestering and reusing methane, turning agriculture waste into fibers -- all of it creates revenue streams for farmers and that is

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer it's made with real fruit juice and is usda certified organice new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes tonight...i'll be eating loaded tots for march madness. ( doorbell ) thanks boo. ( piano glissando ) i think you better double them tots. no, this me was last year. i didn't get my madness last year, so we're doing double the madness this year. i didn't get my madness last year, i'm a verizon engineer, part of the team that built 5g right. the only one from america's most reliable network. we designed our 5g to make the things you do every day, better. with 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. and in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband. the fastest 5g in the world. this is the 5g that's built for you. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. ♪ >>> look at that little cluster of buildings up there. all these old abandoned farms. in the southeast of the island, the picturesque baroque town of visitoria advises surrou

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer it's made with real fruit juice and is usda certified organiccut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes >>> after years embroiled in civil war and tragedy, abraham lincoln is finally able to begin to repair the wounds that the president has inflicted on his marriage. >> late in the day on good friday, 1865, lincoln takes a carriage ride with mary. and they start to think about plans for after his second term is over. >> it had been too sad during recent years to think about the future. and now they could talk about their plans. he said that he wanted to travel. >> this man who suffered so could in that moment find some joy and find some happiness. >> that'vening, the lincolns head to ford theater to enjoy a comedy with friends. >> as lincoln gets to the box, there is a murmur because people see him. >> all 1,600 people rose to their feet and started applauding the president. >> the orchestra conductor tells him, play hail to the chief. and abraham lincoln removes his hat, looks down at the audience and bows t

it also will go to the usda to address long-term discrimination. lindsey graham has another name for it. reparations. >> here's something that bothers me. in this bill, if you're a farmer, your loan will be forgiven 120% of your loan, not 20%, 120% of your loan if you're socially disadvantaged. if you're a white person, a white woman, no forgiveness as reparations. what does that have to do with covid? god help us all if we don't check and balance them in 2022. >> let's talk now with john boy jr. he's a fourth generation farmer and president of the black farmers association. john, i know this has been a fight that you have been fighting for decades, trying to get fair treatment from the usda, taking part in several lawsuits. what is your reaction to what senator graham said? all right, i'm so sorry. unfortunately, we have lost john there. we're going to try to get him back up, because this is such an important story that we are going to be following. of course, as we mentioned, there is $5 billion in the covid relief bill for black farmers, so we'l

this includes coordination from the treasury department, hud, usda. they are all coordinating efforts. today, the white house convened leaders and is taking core dated steps to announce a stat owed -- set of goals and actions for wind energy that would create good paying jobs. the president recognizes a thriving offshore wind industry will drive new jobs up and down the coast and the gulf of mexico. the department of interior, energy, and commerce announce a shared goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in the united states by 2030 while protecting biodiversity and protecting ocean code use. meeting this target will trigger more than a billion dollars a year in capital investment, create tens of thousands of good paying union jobs with more than 44,000 workers employed in offshore wind by 2030 and nearly 33,000 additional jobs in communities supported by offshore wind activity. it will generate enough power to meet the demands of more than 10 million american homes and avoid 78 million metric tons of carbon emissions. additionally, the maritime

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer it's made with real fruit juice and is usda certified organica cut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes >>> as the pressures of war mount on president lincoln, he looks to his young sons for relief and comfort. by the winter of 1862, his oldest, robert, is studying at harvard. but 11-year-old willie and 8-year-old tad have free rein of the white house. ♪ >> the third born, willie, who is their favorite and is the one most like his father, he had his father's temperament, his sense of humor, his build. he carried his head at an angle the way lincoln did. he talked like lincoln. he had lincoln's sharpness of intellect. >> the lincolns were indulgent parents, to say the least. they found their children entertaining and thought other people should too. >> when willie and tad got into the white house, they wreaked havoc. >> it is the first time you've had young children in the white house. it seems as if they were quite rapscallion. they were quite notorious. >> their favorite activity was to find the source of

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer it's made with real fruit juice and is usda certified organica cut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes for 175 years, new york life new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer has been helping people act on their love. so they can look back and say, "we did good." hey! it's me! your dry skin! i'm craving something we're missing. the ceramides in cerave. they help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture. we've got to have each other's backs... cerave. now the #1 dermatologist recommended skincare brand. >>> there's a family whose name hangs over this region like the hot tuscan sun. their astonishing wealth made them one of the most powerful families on earth back in the 1500s. they practically bankrolled the renaissance, paying for artists and scientists like michelangelo and galileo to remake the world. how many days a week are you here? they are the medici. >> so come in. >> and i'm going to meet one of them. >> you are in a place that the florentines call the castano. they created this

food is more than the usda, even, is the obvious one, but food is also the department of housing.e can end food deserts in every housing project that the u.s. housing department have. it is transportation because food also needs to have good mechanisms to bring food to the poor, rural areas all across america. food is also homeland security. food is immigration reform. food is so many things at once, that's why we need to take food, once and for all, seriously. david: you campaigned for joe biden, president biden. would you be interested in this job, or you still have your restaurants and world central kitchen so you are not going to take a job in the white house yourself. jose: was there nobody else, maybe i could be a good leader on that front only because i'm a hard worker, i'm creative enough, and i know how to bring people together. but me, quite frankly, i'm a guy that likes to be with boots on the ground. i like to see what's happening. so if it is me one day, who knows? i'm 51 now. what i want now is to make sure that number one, we recognize that we need that person, that

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer it's made with real fruit juice and is usda certified organicapricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes so jeff, you need all those screens streaming over your xfinity xfi... michel for your meeting?eltzer uhh yes. and your lucky jersey? oh, yeah. lauren, a cooler? it's hot. it's march. and jay, what's with all your screens? just checking in with my team... of colleagues. so you're all streaming on every device in the house, what?!! that was a foul. it's march... ...and you're definitely not watching basketball. no, no. i'm definitely not watching basketball. right... ( horn blaring ) >>> ♪ in recent years it seems genderification of the opening of new shops and restaurants and bars. the architecture is extraordinary. a lot of it is old structures and most is completely fallen apart but they're so beautiful. it is not what i expected. it is kind of a revelation. i am excited to go through it and explore it . palermo. they created a beautiful city. it is almost like new orleans. it is like the french quarter. palermo's beauty has

you have to have debt so you have to have borrowed money from the usda farm loan, tens of billions of dollars are out there. they want a lot of money and you have to be a member of one of the following groups, african-american, amerin indian, alaska native asian refugees or immigrants as long as you are one of those categories racial ethnic groups then the taxpayer will pay off 120 percent not the whole lot but more than the whole loan. 120 percent. and the thing that is so disturbing about this is the essential criteria is your skin color. there's no asset test for the underlying loans. there's no requirement whatsoever that covid caused any problem, caused any lost income or any other problem. it's not -- it's not mentioned. so what's the effect of this? this means that if you have a wealthy hispanic rancher who's got a million-dollar loan from the usda, he's going to get $1.2 million. he can pay off otoloan and $200,000 -- he can pay off the loan and $200,000 to do with what he likes. meanwhile if you are a poor white farmer in pennsylvania, you get nothing. how is that even remote

it's a labor intensive process and some are capacity building and could be adjusting quickly to usda guidelines and in the back end making sure we partners with the cost recovery team to make sure all the eligibility check boxes are clear. as it of it's an ongoing effort and partnership but it's about a million gap for the system. >> looks like there's still challenges. >> i want to emphasize it's quite a laborious paperwork component to this. and so you're essentially asking people to do the tallying as they're watching kids. and we'll have more flexibility in the paperwork. right now it's hard for our cbo partners to do that paperwork on a daily basis. >> okay. i don't have further questions. madame clerk, can we do to public comment. >> clerk: mr. chair. currently there are eight callers listening and four in the queue. members of the public who wish to provide public comment press star 3 and those on hold wait until the system indicates have been unmuted. >> gracie. our college needs

it's made with real fruit juice is six times filtered no added sugar no artificial aftertaste and is usdafied organic it's a cut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes it's amazing. new revitalift night serum with pure retinol our most potent retinol. in a clinical test, 100% of women showed reduction of wrinkles, even deep ones. new revitalift night serum with pure retinol from l'oréal paris. >>> lincoln dealt with passive generals throughout the war. but in the summer of 1863, he is determined to change his strategy. he puts his faith in western general ulysses s. grant who comes up with a plan to seize the river. >> grant undertakes a brilliant, dangerous move that is taking his army across the mississippi river, marching down south, attacking vicsberg mississippi directly and then capturing it. >> once the union army captures vics berg, it was in union control and that whole stretch of plantation land now from memphis down to new orleans, that's hundreds of thousands of slaves that were recruited into the army. >> after vicsberg, grant becomes a na

it's made with real fruit juice is six times filtered no added sugar no artificial aftertaste and is usdarganic it's a cut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes >>> as the late hours of april 14th, 1865, trickle into morning, president abraham lincoln's condition worsens. >> and the heartbeat just grows fainter and fainter until 7:22 in the morning when he stops breathing and they pronounce him dead. only then is mary brought in and collapses again at his bedside. >> lincoln is killed on good friday and comes to be seen as a person who is made a martyr for a broader cause. >> lithographers started printing these pictures of lincoln and washington up in the clouds looking down on the country, making this ultimate sacrifice. >> black people in washington were gathering outside the white house gates, feeling the loss particularly keenly. he was seen as a protector. >> even the confederate military leadership was appalled by the way that booth snuck up behind the man and shot him in the back of the head. that's not a courageous act. that's not an honorabl

it's made with real fruit juice is six times filtered no added sugar no artificial aftertaste and is usdaified organic it's a cut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes for 175 years, new york life has been helping people act on their love. so they can look back and say, "we did good." >>> lincoln had dealt with passive and insubordinate generals throughout the war. but in the summer of 1863, he is determined to change his strategy. he puts his faith in western general ulysses s. grant, who comes up with a risky plan to seize control of the mississippi river. >> grant undertakes a brilliant, dangerous move that is taking his army across the mississippi river, marching it down south, attacking vicksburg, mississippi, directly and then capturing it. >> once the union army captures vicksburg, that whole stretch of plantation land now from memphis all waitthe way down to new orl, that's hundreds of thousands of slaves that were recruited into the army. >> after vicksburg, grant becomes a national hero. so in april 1864, lincoln calls grant to washington an

this bill, i think, is the first step towards a process of creating greater equity in terms of usda'ses debt forgiveness and provides resources to pay the tax that would result from the debt forgiveness. at the end of the day, we gin to get people in better shape financially. then what we need to do is make sure we expand market access, give folks an opportunity to participate fully and completely in the usda programs. we have compensated people for specific acts of discrimination. we have not yet dealt with a cumulative effect of discrimination. this is a first step in an effort to do that, and i'm looking forward to implementing this in the way congress intended. >> what else can people expect in terms of food relief as part of this under your department? >> well, tragically, we have a lot of unemployed folks out there that are struggling. this is an increase in the supplemental nutrition program. there's an opportunity for parents who children are not going to school, who don't get the benefit of a free breakfast or lunch a little extra cash to buy groceries and an opportunity to e

section 1006, usda assistance and support for sociallloy disadvantaged farmers, ranchers, forestland owners and operators and groups. section 1007, use of commodity credit corporation for commodities and associated expenses. subtitle b, nutrition. section 1101, section 11023, additional assistance for snap online purchasing and technology improvements, section 1103, additional funding for nutrition assistance programs. section 1104, commodity supplemental food program. section 1105, improvements to w.i.c. benefits, sec 11006. american indian, native hawaiian, and alaska native education. titlei-committee on agriculture, nutrition, and forestry labor and pensions. subtitle a, education matters. part 1, department of education, elementary and secondary school relief fund, section 2003, higher relief relief fund, section 2004, maintenance of equity, section 2005, section 23006, section 2007, student aid administration, section 2008, howard university, section 2009, national technical institute for the deaf, section 2010, institute of education sciences, section 2011, program administrat

so you have to have borrowed money from the farm loan of the usda, tens of billions of dollars and we have to be a member of one of the following groups. and that includes those that are mostly racial and ethnic groups. and then they are going to pay off 120%, not the whole loan, but more than the whole own. 120%. and the thing that is so disturbing about it is that the essential criteria is your skin color. the essential criteria -- there's no asset test. there is no requirement whatsoever that caused any lost income or any other problem. it's not mentioned. and so if you have a wealthy hispanic rancher and whatever you would like. and you get nothing. exactly nothing. and there is an amendment in the house that would've limited the payment that would allow the program and that would've allowed this repayment of debt but only for debt incurred during this crisis. and i think we mentioned earlier that we are administering almost 2 million doses every day now. it's the highest number anywhere in the world. and we have not less than 350 million americans and not all will need two doses

it's made with real fruit juice is six times filtered no added sugar no artificial aftertaste and is usdaorganic it's a cut above new mango apricot michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes it's amazing. new revitalift night serum with pure retinol our most potent retinol. in a clinical test, 100% of women showed reduction of wrinkles, even deep ones. new revitalift night serum with pure retinol from l'oréal paris. >>> my night at the wheat festival as reminded me of the obsession that tuscany has with bread. it is a love that echoed through the ages and there are recipes through every stage of a loaf's life. the best ones are saved for the advanced years when bread is old and stale. that's when tuscan cooks get really creative. >> here we are. >> yeah. >> very exciting. i am having lunch at one of my favorite restaurant in florence. i am joined again by a local food expert professional. this place specializes in poor food. their recipe is so heavenly, i am sure where all bread choose to come undone. marco marcelli is the restaurant's owner. >> we have tomato and bread soup. the

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to pay off the debt of disadvantaged black farmers and to help fund racial equity commission in the usda. senator lindsey graham, who ran against -- you ran against in november, is calling this reparations. here it is. >> let me give you an example of something that really bothers me. in this bill, if you're a farmer, your loan will be forgiven up to 120% of your loan, not 100%, but 120% of your loan if you're socially disadvantaged, if you're african-american, some other minority. but if you're a white person, if you're a white woman, no forgiveness. that's reparations. >> well, so, jaime, that takes some mental gymnastics. just because this helps black farmers, somehow senator graham thinks this is reparations. >> well, what you got right there was an example of a senator who doesn't work for all of his citizens, don. you know, lindsey should be ashamed of himself. donald trump during his administration gave out $28 billion to farmers and asked how many black farmers in south carolina benefited from that. he was as quiet as a church mouse. this guy is reprehensible in terms of who does

. >> several years ago i fought usda to make sure that 4-h rodeo and the sport of rodeo could keep girlsnd boys events boys events. i have been working on this for many, many years. back since november i have been consulting with legal scholars and professors across the country asking them how do i protect women's sports. and they have gone through the steps to how i would legally challenge the ncaa and keep them from bullying the state of south dakota and what they have told me to do is that i need to build a coalition. so that's why today i launched the defend title ix now.com. that'sat going to allow us to build a coalition of states that can fight the ncaa. listen, i'm sick and tired of the ncaa threatening states, challenging us and bullying us. so we are going to build a coalition a of leaders, athletes andts people who want to protect women's sports and want to make sure that our women keep title ix in place to protect their right to be competitive and to be rewarded by participating in these team sports and make sure this coalition can fight the ncaa to make sure we are protectin

if francis the usda for private actors invest the majority of the funds in regenerative programs rather than cash flows subsidies. it would make a massive statement about her priorities as a country whether we want to invest in short-term profit or long-term fidelity. it would also require people to stay in place and cultivate something for the long haul. and also i think we have an incredibly difficult work ahead of us we need to reanimate people's love the place. we need to make root great again. and convinced him people it's a good to live in a quiet provincial place. and this is any ways but they have done his entire life in his essays novels and poems printed he suggests to me that it is perhaps and foremost the work of poetry and art and drawing the souls of men and women towards homecoming by animating their imaginations when they are allowed. and i think that these examples can awful say big or play big part in the story and the career is not for his example devotion of space i would not have written this book. so i think that each of us can it would to service industries inspir

we don't know what their usda data will look like. the u.s. fda is probably the toughest most regulatory body. they'll look at dat fa from europe. millions of people have been vaccinated with the astrazeneca vaccines, these clots, are pretty infrequent. we had to sort it out. i'm not worried it's going to be a major problem. >> okay. let's talk about spring breakers. there's a lot of travel taking place now. many people in coastal communities -- you predicted that life could return to normal very soon as a lot of experts and we're going to see coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths plummet in the coming weeks and months. nearly 7 million people have boarded airplanes over the last few days despite warnings against travel. so could we see the impact of this increase in travel affect the case numbers? and kind of get in the way of a lot of optimism that had been expressed? >> yeah, unfortunately right now the problem is that a majority of americans who are high risk from complications from the virus, people who are older, people who have younge

the reality is that we had 35 million, the good news was 35 was the last number that came out of the usdaot really good news. 35 million people who were foodin secure. so many of them have generational food insecurity in this country. so this is helpful but we need more. it is the charity food system kicking in and additional interventions to the federal nutrition program. it needs to be an all-in fight. it really does. >> how important is it for your effort in feeding america's children to get all of our kids back in school soon, right. for the biden administration to meet that promise of getting kids in school by the end of the first 100 days because so many children rely on their school to literally provide not just one meal, but often two meals. >> you're right again. about 22 million kids qualified for free or reduced lunch before the pandemic. we know those numbers have gone up. these are kids who need those meals in order to thrive, for certain. so when the schools are closed, that means that kids are missing meals. so we're desperate for kids to get back to school safely. we know

funding for the usda office of special general for oversight of -- >> so this will take hours, this is what is called a substitute amendment. that's basically an entirely new bill. johnson defended his move. >> i feel bad for the clerks. they'll have to read it. but it's important. so often we rush these massive bills that are hundreds if not thousands of pages long. >> the senate can't begin debate until the clerk finishes reading this amendment. that could lead late into the night. context here. harry potter and the order of the phoenix, 870 pages, the blind assassin is 637 pages. vice president harris had to break a 50/50 tie, so they may need her to break a tie to pass the bill in the coming days, neil. >> neil: so then has to go back to the house with these fixes, right? the house votes on that and then back. explain that process. >> that's right. they have to get done reading this amendment first. then they have 20 hours of debate. and the vote a rama and then to the house. the house has to evaluate the changes. that will be tough with a four-vote margin in the house of represent

the usda tells "newshour" that would help some 14,000 farmers, providing $175,000 in relief on averagee struggles of black farmers have been particularly acute. john would is a farmer in southwest virginia, and he himself is the head of the national black farmers association. let's start right away. how would this money help black farmers? john: it's going to give them a jumpstart in their farming operation. first and foremost. this measure is historic in nature. it provides $5 billion for debt relief and $1 billion for outreach -- outreach. this is a huge step in the right direction, especially for congress, and the agate department. lisa: you are a fourth-generation farmer. you're talking about discrimination from the u.s. department of agriculture. we are talking about loans denied, loans underfunded. can you talk us through how that actually worked for individual farmers like you? lisa: basically, -- john: basically, many black farmers experienced blatant discrimination. i had my loan application torn and tossed in a trashcan. i've been spat on the person responsible for making far

relief for socially-disadvantaged farmers to pay off burdensome debts and $1 billion in funding to the usda to create a racial equity commission and address longstanding discrimination. tomorrow, the help is here tour will continue with president biden traveling to columbus, ohio to highlight how the american rescue plan will help to lower healthcare costs. he will deliver remarks on the anniversary of the affordable care act being signed into law, of course, something he had a major role in, and encourage americans to sign up for insurance at healthcare.gov during the special enrollment period his administration opened amid the pandemic. additionally, health and human services secretary, newly-confirmed secretary xavier becerra will travel to carson city, nevada, and the second gentleman will be in omaha, nebraska talking about how the rescue plan lowers healthcare costs. then on equal pay day, wednesday, the president and the first lady will host an event at the white house. the second gentleman will travel to st. louis, missouri. they will showcase how the rescue plan provides help for w

it's a labor intensive process and some are capacity building and could be adjusting quickly to usda guidelines and in the back end making sure we partners with the cost recovery team to make sure all the eligibility check boxes are clear. as it of it's an ongoing effort and partnership but it's about a million gap for the system. >> looks like there's still challenges. >> i want to emphasize it's quite a laborious paperwork component to this. and so you're essentially asking people to do the tallying as they're watching kids. and we'll have more flexibility in the paperwork. right now it's hard for our cbo partners to do that paperwork on a daily basis. >> okay. i don't have further questions. madame clerk, can we do to public comment. >> clerk: mr. chair. currently there are eight callers listening and four in the queue. members of the public who wish to provide public comment press star 3 and those on hold wait until the system indicates have been unmuted. >> gracie. our college needs your help. it's free for local residents and the single largest jobs trainer in the city. it's a

and secretary vilsack needs to make a quick announcement that usda is open for business for blacks andrmers. >> all right. i have to leave it there, but you worked on this a long time. i've been there with you, and i'm glad to see some light in this darkness. thank you for being here. >>> coming up, the pandemic isn't the only crisis facing americans. i'll speak to the woman trying to help end hunger in the u.s. that's after the break. >>> hey, everyone. i'm alicia menendez. on tonight's show, we take an in-depth look at how democrats can deliver on president biden's immigration promises. i'll speak with congressman raul ruiz. he's chair of the congressional hispanic caucus, but how they plan to do that beginning this week. that's all tonight, 6:00 p.m. eastern, "american voices" right here on msnbc. ♪♪ comfort in the extreme. the lincoln family of luxury suvs. (judith) at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. comfort in the extreme. (money manager) because our way works great for us! (judith) but not for your clients. that's why we

toward paying off the debt of disadvantaged black farmers and form a racial equity commission in the usdalong existing discrimination in the department. but republican senator lindsey graham has another name for this assistance, reparations. >> let me give you an example of something that really bothers me. in this bill if you're a farmer, your loan will be forgiven up to 120% of your loan, not 100%, but 120% of your loan if your socially disadvantaged, if you're african-american or some other minority. but if you're a white person, if you're a white woman, no forgiveness, reparations, what has that got to do with covid? >> with me is john boyd jr., a fourth generation farmer and the founder of the black farmers association. what was your reaction when you heard the words of lindsey graham, the senator? >> thank you for having me. it's very disheartening to listen to those comments from senator lindsey graham and i've lobbied him and congress both as a congressman and as a senator about the discrimination that many black farmers faced, including myself, and senator lindsey graham never sp

reading a tweet since taken down from just after the election, the @usda and democrats wouldn't let me get a vaccine prior to the election so instead it came out five days later, as i said all along. never mind, ending the pandemic is his election day shot in the arm. the president who successfully handled a dire national emergency and brought the country through it would likely win an election, likely in a landslide. a killer virus, test of political loyalty and did the same for mask wearing holding one dangerous rally after another as the outbreak accelerated and turned his own brush with the virus into another chance to teach all the wrong lessons which absent of vaccine were lessons how to get sick and possibly die. think about that. without a vaccine modelling safe behavior is all you can do yet, he did the opposite. all the time. and revelled in it and unlike the current president, as well as presidents obama, bush and carter, when it came time to get vaccinated and set the example. he got his in secret. so did his wife. and they never said a word. the former president also made